out a quarter page ad in The New York Times, he humiliated his attacker and called him an "... immature, undeveloped ape of a clerk, barely able to appreciate the spoken word... much less fine poetry..." Typical C. Jerome Hopkins, reportedly a perfectly witty man and a perfectly horrible foe. Among his contemporaries, Hopkins could count such a figure as Louis Morreau Gottschalk as his friend and colleague. Being an admirer of Gottschalk's, Jerome even sold his own Chickering piano-forte to fund a tour with him. Letters from the journey exclaim his excitement with all of the bold, new, innovative music he was hearing. Career In 1856, at the age of 20, Hopkins formed the American Music Association with other prominent Victorian American musicians – not all of whom were American born but who lived and composed and performed in New York and championed the cause of American Art. George Bristow was Jerome's sometime friend, sometime enemy and one of the founders of the Association. The Association's activities were hosted by Cooper Union for some time and at the campus Jerome began giving free vocal classes to children, young men and to women; regardless of race, age, marriage status or social class. He began teaching by paying for materials and rents out of his own pocket, something he would continue to do for many years to come. Hopkins formed the Orpheon Free Music Schools. He would spend much time and energy trying to win subscriptions for the school so as to support it but for the most part, Hopkins paid the bills himself. Eventually, the American Music Association would vanish before the success of the New York Philharmonic and its wealthy benefactors but for a time it was the champion of musicians and performers struggling to be heard (and paid). During the first few years of managing the Orpheon Schools, Hopkins clarified his position on music, the arts, and the American identity. His personal letters and published works declared that the study of music allowed the individual to become an intelligent, disciplined person capable of engaging in society with worthwhile intentions. Jerome firmly held the belief that crime, drunkenness, idleness and violence would lessen considerably should more citizens take up the demanding and satisfying study of music. More so than religion or law, Hopkins held forth with the opinion that music and the other arts could lift up humanity into